Sam’s, not Sam’s

[5714 New Utrecht Avenue, Boro Park, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

This morning I’ve moved from Bensonhurst into Boro Park. But I’m still the prisoner of New Utrecht Avenue.

I like the look of this modest grocery store. In the windows: signage for the then-ubiquitous White Rose Tea (no relation to present-day fancy tea). And: QUALITY FOODS / ITALIAN GROCERIES / IT’S GOOD / DELICATESSEN. I like the use of the sidewalk as additional floor space. And I like puzzling over the mystery items displayed to the left. Is that baccalà I’m looking at?

Pre-grocery, this address housed a funeral parlor, then a paint store. The paint-store owner declared bankruptcy in 1933. At one point the grocery store was owned by a Sam Sturn. By the time this photograph was taken, the Sam on the store’s sign was covered, though the name is still present on the awning. This newspaper item might explain Mr. Sturn’s departure from the grocery business.

[“Fire of Sunpicious Origin in Grocery.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 10, 1933. Click for a larger view.]

There are many reasons why someone might toss bricks wrapped in gasoline-soaked rags through a store window. The one that immediately comes to my mind is that the store owner had refused to pay protection money.

As of July 2022, Google Maps shows no. 5714 unoccupied. Siding has covered the second-story windows for at least eleven years.

Related reading
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)

Details of the building’s history found via the ever-helpful Brooklyn Newsstand. White Rose was a black tea, no relation to white tea and rosebuds.